Economic Culture

Learn about the ideas of Adam Smith in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. Smith is widely considered to be the leading thinker of classical economics and is therefore regarded as the father of modern economics. His work has had a lasting impact on many economists who came after him and covers a wide range of topics, including... Read more

Understand the essentials of Black Monday in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. On 19 October 1987, almost 58 years to the day since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Dow Jones lost 22.6% of its value, the largest drop ever recorded on the New York Stock Exchange. Stock markets around the world were thrown into... Read more

Learn about the ideas of Joseph Stiglitz in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and one of the best-known figures of New Keynesian economics. His work spans multiple domains of economics, including in particular political economics, development economics and econometrics. He is also a pioneer of information economics and an outspoken... Read more

Learn about the ideas of Karl Marx in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. Marx was a German economist and socialist revolutionary who had a significant influence on political thought, and particularly on Communism. His work includes a broad range of different political ideas, including the distribution of wealth and man's relationship with his environment, and gave rise to the... Read more

Learn about the ideas of Milton Friedman in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. Friedman was a Nobel Prize-winning economist who lived through many of the most significant economic periods in the USA: he witnessed the roaring twenties, the Wall Street Crash and the Second World War. His work spans multiple domains of economics, including in particular consumption... Read more

Understand the essentials of Ponzi schemes (also known as Ponzi pyramids or Ponzi systems) in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. Ponzi schemes are fraudulent investment operations involving an investment company and an investor, and were initially facilitated by currency devaluation and inflation. These scams, which attract investors by promising huge windfalls, are often characterized by speculation, a context of low... Read more

Understand the essentials of the Great Recession in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. This major economic crisis spanned the period from 2007 to 2009 and had disastrous consequences around the world, with millions of Americans losing their homes and numerous financial institutions driven to bankruptcy. The presence of toxic assets in banks in Europe and the USA also... Read more

Understand the essentials of the Mundell-Fleming model (also known as the IS-LM-BoP model or the IS-LM-BP model) in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. The Mundell-Fleming model is crucial to understanding international macroeconomics: it provides the general framework for economic policy within the Eurozone, and allows us to analyze the role of international capital mobility in the effectiveness of macroeconomic... Read more

Learn about the OECD and the challenges of globalisation in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is a body which aims to regulate international trade and encourage cooperation between countries. It also provides governments with analyses and recommendations in order to promote more effective social and economic policies. This book... Read more

Understand the essentials of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in just 50 minutes with this practical and concise book. The UNDP aims to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, ensure democracy and the respect of human rights, and restore dignity to some of the world's most marginalized people. It is currently active in 77 countries, and bases its work on the concepts of partnership,... Read more